'Nothing but death in front of us' -- Survivors of India floods recount horror

By Harmeet Shah Singh and Jethro Mullen, CNN

Updated 1:04 PM ET, Fri June 21, 2013

Images: India lashed by monsoon rains20 photos

India lashed by monsoon rains – Pedestrians run from water splashing over a sea wall in Mumbai on Monday, June 24. Authorities are scrambling to rescue thousands of people trapped after floods and landslides ravaged north India, leaving up to 1,000 feared dead.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – A man struggles with his umbrella during heavy rain in Mumbai on June 24.

India lashed by monsoon rains – Boatmen navigate a fast-moving river in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh state, on June 24.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Workers pack candles at a factory in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, on June 24. Candles are in great demand during India's monsoon season as heavy rains cause electricity blackouts.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – A stranded pilgrim carrying a child is ziplined across a river with the help of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel in Govindghat, India, on June 23.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Police carry a child during efforts to help stranded Indian pilgrims on June 23 after a section of road was washed away in Govindghat.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Stranded Indian pilgrims make their way up a mountain in Govindghat on June 23.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Police personnel use a rope rescue system to transport stranded pilgrims across a river in Govindghat on June 23.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Severe flooding has left more than 50,000 people stranded in northern India. A boy rescued from flood-hit areas waits with others before being sent to relief camps in Dehradun, state capital of Uttarakhand, on Friday, June 21.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – A man bathes from a hand pump as a local resident carries her belongings to safer place on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – An Indian man, who was evacuated due to rising waters, searches along the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on June 21.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Buses and trucks are submerged in the rising waters of the Yamuna River near the Tibetan market in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Shopkeepers are using boats to traverse the rising waters of the Yamuna River at the Tibetan market in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Men watch the rising waters of the Yamuna River from a bridge in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Civil Defence volunteers warn people against attempting to catch floating pumpkins, watermelons and other objects from the rising waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Evacuees hug their family members after arriving by helicopter in Dehradun, the capital of the state of Uttarakhand on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Hindu priests move their shelters from the banks of the Ganga river as the water level rises in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh state, on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – The Kedarnath Temple (C, foreground) is pictured amid flood destruction in the holy Hindu town of Kedarnath in Uttarakhand state on June 18.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Water flows over a Hindu statue during heavy monsoon rains in Rishikesh town in the state of Uttrakhand on June 17.

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Story highlights

"We had to walk over dead bodies," says one survivor

Severe flooding has left more than 50,000 people stranded in northern India

Authorities put the death toll at more than 500 but say they fear it will rise

Many people are searching for people lost in the chaos

It was late at night when the priest raised the alarm.

Heavy rain was falling on Gobindghat, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas where Sikh pilgrims stop on their way to a holy site farther into the mountains.

A monsoon deluge had swept in earlier and heavier than usual in this part of northern India, bringing a risk of floods.

But before residents and pilgrims in the town could heed the priest's warning, water had engulfed the town.

"Some people climbed upwards, some ran here and there," said Gurjit Singh, who had traveled to Gobindghat with his 12-year-old son. "It was chaos."

Barrages of water, mud and rocks have hit scores of towns and villages in the Indian state of Uttarakhand in the past week, inundating homes, shrines, roads and vehicles.

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Uttarakhand's chief minister, Vijay Bahuguna, has described the disaster as a "Himalayan tsunami."

Dotted with temples and often referred to as "the Land of Gods," Uttarakhand attracts large numbers of pilgrims from around India to its mountainous reaches. Those travelers, many of them far from home and short on belongings, are now caught up in the destruction.

Thousands of rescue workers are trying to reach more than 50,000 people cut off by the waters. Bahuguna told CNN's sister network CNN-IBN on Friday night that the death toll was 556 but could rise. The bodies "were either buried or floating in slush," he said. It will take 15 days to complete evacuations in the province, he added.

Other parts of northern India, including New Delhi, have also been hit by flooding, but Uttarakhand has suffered the worst of the devastation.

The rains over the region have eased in the past few days, aiding in the rescue of about 30,000 people, Bahuguna said.

'A second life'

"There was nothing but death in front of us," Singh said Thursday after getting out of a crowded car ferrying people to dry, flat land. "Now that we've got out, we feel like we've got a second life."

His son, Rana Udesh Pratap, said the trek to safety was long.

"I held my father's hand and walked and walked and walked on a narrow path," he said. The two had made a pilgrimage to Uttarakhand from the nearby state of Punjab to visit the Sikh Hemkunt Sahib shrine.

Others were still struggling with what they had endured.

A man named Kailash told CNN-IBN that he, his wife and 4-year-old son didn't know how they were going to get back to their home in Jodhpur, hundreds of kilometers to the southwest.

"We don't have a penny, how will we reach home?" he asked, explaining that his family had gone hungry for three days before they were evacuated to a hospital in the town of Rudrapyrayag.

They had been in Kedarnath, a centuries-old Hindu holy town at the heart of the destruction. Pictures show the town's temple surrounded by mud and rocks.

Kailash recalled what he and his family endured before they were flown out.

"We had to walk over dead bodies," he said. "Nothing is left there, everything is finished. We can't even find our relatives."

A search for the missing

Others were searching for relatives amid the chaos. A Facebook page for rescue and relief in Uttarakhand was peppered with pleas for help in finding people.

"It is with great hope that I am writing to you to alleviate the distress of my family," wrote Shantalu Srivastava in a post seeking information about his brother, sister-in-law and two nieces.

Srivastava said that the family had traveled to Kedarnath from Lucknow, in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, and that he had last heard from them Sunday.

The national government has dispatched the army to help with rescue efforts and promised 10 billion rupees ($170 million) in disaster relief funds to the Uttarakhand government.